Sai no Go
by esama
Summary: ABANDONED. Buying a Goban from a second hand store, young Fujiwara Sai didn't expect to meet a ghost from the past that came with it. Alternate universe story.
1. I chapter

**Sai no Go**

The shop was quiet when they entered. It was one of those second hand stores that sold just about anything people could've used and nothing truly new. It wasn't a very popular shop, it was easy to tell. There was a stagnant smell of dust and old clothes and slowly rotting wood around and the windows of the store were stained like they hadn't been cleaned in years.

"Why this store, Sai?" a girl's voice asked softly as two people entered the store. The speaker was twelve year old girl with chin-length wavy hair who was looking around nervously. "Surely there are cleaner ones out there…"

"Probably, but this one looks cheaper than those do," the boy, who seemed to be the same age as she was, answered. He was slightly taller than the girl with hair that reached almost his knees. In all honesty he looked a bit more feminine than the girl he was with. "I don't have much money for this, so I have to go with something cheap," he said, looking around with curious eyes.

"I don't understand why you won't just buy one of those foldable boards, or maybe a magnetic one," the girl asked, twisting the hem of her jacket in her hands anxiously. As she followed the boy to the thin aisles of the store she was desperately trying to keep from letting anything in the store touch her. "It's just for practice, isn't it?"

"I don't like those ones, Akiko, they are not aesthetic," the boy, Sai, answered calmly. "If I am going to buy one, I might as well buy something that I can look at… Ah, here we are," he said with satisfaction as they came to a table with wooden boards in it. "See, these look much better than foldable ones."

"Maybe," Akiko admitted with a frown while taking in the large boards. They seemed to be made of solid wood and they looked rather heavy. Some were taller than others, and all of them had legs and nineteen-by-nineteen grid on their surface. How ever some of the boards had scrapes and cuts on them and one had a leg that had half of it chipped off. "They're not in very good shape though. They're dirty too."

"Well, some are and I can just clean it up," the boy hummed, walking along the table in search for the perfect board. He dismissed the more damaged one and one which was so worn that parts of the grid had faded. Then he found one that seemed to be in perfect condition except for the brown smudges on the top of it. It was the tallest of them all, and it even had stone bowls - and it looked like they were clam and slate stones, not glass ones. "This is surprisingly good condition for this place," Sai mused, running his hand over the wooden surface.

"Yeah… yeah it is," Akiko murmured and kneeled to check the price. "Hey, it's not too pricy either."

Sai checked the price and lifted his eyebrows. Then he frowned. Why was a Goban of this condition that cheap? Just because of the stains? They weren't so bad, nothing a good scrubbing couldn't repair. Glancing up he turned to look towards the counter where an old man was watching them. "Hey, mister, why is this one so inexpensive?" he asked. "Is it on sale or…"

The old man snorted. "That one has been in this store for better part of last twenty years," he said. "People buy it and then bring it back saying that it gives a weird vibe…"

Sai lifted his eyebrows and turned his eyes back to the Goban. Weird aura? It looked like normal Goban to him.

"Maybe you should pick another one?" Akiko asked, standing up and smoothing wrinkles out of her skirt.

The boy gave it a thought before shaking his head. "No, I like this one," he decided and picked the Goban up. It was heavier than it looked. "Could you take the bowls?"

The girl sighed. She knew better than to argue - Sai was one of the most stubborn peoples she had ever known. "Yeah, of course," she answered and picked them up before following the boy to the counter.

"You sure you want this one boy? It could be haunted." The old salesman made a wavy motion with his fingers and grinned wickedly. "You might just end up bringing it back - and this being a second hand store, I won't give you your money back."

"I won't bring it back," Sai said with certainty while digging through the pockets of his white jacket until he found his wallet. With a snort the old man accepted the money, handing the change back to the boy quickly enough. Glancing towards outside - where it had been rather cloudy all day, Sai glanced at the old man. "Can I have a plastic bag? I want to cover the board so that if it starts raining it won't get wet."

"Hm-hm," the old man nodded and pulled out white garbage back. "Here you go."

While Akiko cringed at the thought of carrying a garbage bag around, Sai merely pushed the board inside and tightly wrapped the bag around the board. "Thank you very much," the boy said and lifted the board to his hands again. "Come on, Akiko, I want to take this home."

"Alright, alright," the girl nodded, taking the stone bowls again and following the boy out of the store. Outside she shuddered slightly. "I don't want to go to that place again," she muttered, throwing a sideways glance towards the store as if expecting the dirt to follow her.

"Stop being such a snob," the boy snorted with amusement. "Little bit of dust isn't going to kill you."

"It might, breathing in what ever was in that store's air cannot be healthy. For all I know there was mould spores all over the air in that shop," Akiko sniffed, but it was mostly faked. "Besides, this is a new jacket," she added, quickly checking if the stone bowls were dirty and in danger of staining her clothing. Seeing that there was no such risk she sighed and glanced at the boy. "Why are you going to try learning Go anyway?" she asked.

"Because grandfather promised me that if I could beat him, he'd buy me my own Biwa," Sai answered with a sigh and glanced at her. "The school one is so old that it just can't be tuned right. It's getting… irritating to try and play with it."

"Oh," Akiko nodded in understanding, knowing how much Sai liked playing with the old instruments. He was part of the school's music club that made Gagaku performances. Sai was amongst the best players in the group, even. "Well, I guess it's worth it then," she murmured. "Do you think you can manage to learn Go, though? It doesn't seem like something easy to learn."

"I can try," the boy shrugged, lifting the board in his hands to get a better hold of it. "And I think grandfather might appreciate the effort enough to buy me a cheap one, or second hand one. Either way I'm going to try," he grinned a little. "They played Go even during Heian period, you know."

Akiko chuckled. "You're seriously obsessed with that time period," she shook her head, throwing a glance towards the boy's hair which was styled in very Heian-way. She was rather certain that Sai had never allowed it to be cut. "You need more hobbies."

"I'm getting one," Sai said cheerfully, raising the Goban wrapped in white plastic. "This one."

The girl merely sighed and smiled with amusement. Then, feeling something wet hitting her cheek, she looked up. "It's starting to rain," she said worriedly, then glancing down to her jacket. Then she looked up to Sai. "Mom told me not to get my jacket wet."

"Alright, come on. Were not far from the train station, if we hurry we'll get there before it starts to pour," the boy said and then led the girl into a light run. Hugging the wooden bowls to her chest, Akiko hurried after him.

"I've been meaning to ask you, do you want to come with me to the Haze's festival?" Akiko asked once they were in the safety of the train station. "I'm going to go and see what sort of clubs they have there…"

Sai thought about it. "Alright. I have to admit that I'm curious to see what sort of music club they have."

Later, when Akiko had hurried off to home after borrowing Sai's umbrella, Sai placed the Goban to the floor of his own room and unwrapped it from the white plastic. He ran his fingers over the wooden surface with a smile, spending a moment of admiring it and congratulating himself for finding such a great item. It would fit well in his room and no matter how Akiko thought he was obsessed with these things, he liked his room's décor to look nice.

With a smile the long haired boy sat up and headed downstairs was the go stones. With his parents being still out, he could do it in kitchen. He hadn't washed Go stones before, but he had watched his grandfather doing it, so he knew what to do. After drying the stones on a towel, he cleaned the bowls as best as he could and places the stones into them again.

Then, after fetching some supplies he could use to clean the Goban he headed upstairs. There he sat to his knees on the floor and gently started to wipe the board clean. It wasn't all that dirty except for the rusty stains on top of the grid; the board still seemed to brighten somehow under his care. How ever the rusty stains wouldn't come off.

"Aww," he mumbled, leaning closer and trying the stains with his fingers. There was no difference between the feel of the stained and unstained parts of the surface. It seemed that what ever had dirtied the board had seeped into the wood and wouldn't come off. "I had been hoping that these stains would come off," he murmured, straightening his back and folding his arms. "What a pity, it's such a beautiful Goban otherwise."

Suddenly he snapped into attention, after hearing a whisper that seemed to come just from behind his ear. Looking around the boy frowned. "What was that?" he murmured and stood up, walking up to the window to see if there were people in the side walk.

Then he heard it again, this time loud enough for him to discern the worlds. "You can hear me?" a male voice asked in slightly suspicious tone, as if not quite believing it.

"Who is that?" Sai asked in return, looking outside more closely and then around his room where he saw no one there. There was no one in his room either, other than Sai himself. And he would've heard the car - and the door - if his parents had returned home.

"You _can_ hear me," the voice sounded half doubtful and half awed. "You can. Woah, this is new…You can actually hear me."

"I can. Where are you?" Sai asked worriedly, looking around wildly. Maybe it was a prank by someone, maybe there was a radio or something like that hidden in his room. It wouldn't be the first time someone played a prank on him - plenty of boys at his school didn't like him because he was, according to them, too girly.

"I'm right here. Right where I've been for twenty years. And _you_ can hear me," now the male voice sounded as if the speaker was grinning. "It's about the goddamn time too!"

As a blinding light shot out from the Goban, Sai raised his hand to shield his eyes from it. He managed to get a climes of a man with bleached bangs and yellow shirt with number five in it, before the his head started to hurt and the floor suddenly rushed up to meet him.

-

"Huh. I didn't expect that…" a voice murmured when consciousness started to invade Sai's muddled mind. The boy felt something poking the top of his head and tried to feebly push it away. "Aha! He awakens. Wakey wakey, sleepy head."

With a muffled moan of pain, Sai tried to push himself up. When it only managed to make the room around him spin, he fell back down. Then, after moment of consideration, he rolled to his back to see a man crouching right next to him. The man grinned. "Hiya," he said, making a greeting motion with his hand. "You fainted."

"I did?" Sai asked weakly.

"Yeah, I might've had something to do with it," the man said, scratching the back of his head with his grin turning a bit sheepish. "I haven't really done this before so it might be normal. Or you just might be that easily fainting sort," he thought about if for a moment before poking Sai's cheek. "Do you faint often?"

"I've never fainted before," Sai frowned confusedly. "Who are you? And how did you get into my room?"

"I am Shindo Hikaru and I was in that thing," the man pointed towards something. Following his finger Sai saw the Goban sitting innocently in the middle of his room. The man chuckled. "I guess I was haunting it."

"You're a ghost, Shindo-san.?" Sai asked, his eyes widening slightly. This had to be some sort of joke.

"Yep, though none of that Shindo-san stuff. Hikaru's just fine. And I've been somewhat peacefully dead for a while now," the man nodded looking disturbingly happy about it. "I was shot to the back. Five times. By a burglar I think. It was kind of embarrassing." With a hum he fell to sit on the floor with his feet crossed. "So, who are you? And how'd you come by my Goban?"

Sai blinked and then struggled to sit - looking the man from the floor made his head ache. Turning around to face the man, the boy shook his head to clear the last bits of unconsciousness. His head still hurt but it wasn't too bad. "I'm Sai. Fujiwara Sai," he answered and glanced at the wooden board. "I bought that Goban from second hand store. I meant to try and learn to play Go…"

"Second hand store?" the man asked, throwing a morose look towards the Goban. "Ah, how far my worth has fallen," he murmured sadly though with slight undertone of self-mocking. "I would've thought that I would become a collector's item at least, but noo…" he harrumphed and folded his hands before glancing at the boy. "Learn Go, huh?" he then asked. "Just getting into it?"

"Well… yes. Well, to be honest I'm only learning it because my grandfather promised me if I would beat him, he'd buy me an instrument," Sai admitted softly, hoping that he didn't insult the man with the worlds. If this ghost was a Go player, the word might have negative effect. "Though it does seem interesting game on it's own right."

The ghost, Hikaru, chuckled and made a dismissing motion with his hand. "I learned Go because I wanted to win some titles and get punch of money," he said with a crooked grin. "Of course it did sorta change after I got my ass kicked in Go few times, but that was how it started." With a shake of his head, he turned his attention to Sai's room. "You have a weird room."

"It isn't weird, it's just… demoded," Sai defended the room though he knew that many did think that the room was weird and a bit Spartan. Instead of bed Sai had an old fashioned futon which had been hidden behind a folding screen, and the walls of his room were decorated by scrolls. His desk and wardrobe had both also been hidden behind a folding screen to keep their modern design from interfering with his otherwise old fashioned décor. There was also his favourite white Kariginu on display stand in the room.

"Uhhuh, sure," the man said amusedly.

Sai pouted at the man. "I'm sorry for liking old fashioned things," he muttered defensively.

Hikaru chuckled. "Well, it's not bad I guess. Fitting for a Go player," he said, standing up in fluid motion and walking to the Goban. He sat down before it and ran his hand over the surface. "I've been looking at world from inside this thing for a long while. It's nice to look _at_ it again," he mused with a strangely tender look about him. "I've missed Go so much…"

Sai blinked and quickly sat up, wavering a bit but gaining his balance soon enough. Then he walked to the Goban a well. "You played often?" he asked curiously, sitting down beside the man.

"All the time, it was my job for dozen years and more," Hikaru answered, palming the stains on top of the Goban. "I started playing when I was about your age and died when I was twenty five. The time between I played almost every day, more than once in most days." His smile got a slightly sad look about it. "Stupid time to die too. I was almost finished with the Honinbo finals, just half-a-game away from getting that title… Well, of course it wasn't my first title, but damn it would've been nice to be the Honinbo."

"Honinbo?" Sai blinked with confusion.

The man glanced at him amusedly. "You don't know much about Go, huh?" he asked. "Or the world of Go pros?"

"Well… not really," the boy admitted embarrassedly. He knew more than enough of the times thousand years ago, but more recent things held little interest for him. "What are the titles? And Honinbo? Please tell me," he said carefully, making the man chuckle again.

"Alright, why not," the man answered and folded his hands before starting to explain. He spoke of the Go professionals and the ranking systems, the tournaments and the big titles. "I had three," the man grinned. "Judan, Gosei and Ouza. Ah, it was beautiful day when I kicked Fukui's ass and won the Ouza title…" he sighed happily. "Those were few of the most brilliant games I've played. The poor people watching us could barely keep up with us."

The boy beside him shifted a bit awkwardly, not entirely sure what could be so brilliant about a Go game. "And the Honinbo title?" he asked carefully, not wishing to insult the man by appearing disinterested. He still felt somehow left out though.

"The oldest of the tournaments," Hikaru said thoughtfully, pursing his lips into half pout. "Amongst the three biggest, Kisei and Meijin being the other two. Old man Tsusui was the holder of the Honinbo title during my time, had been for a while. I was so close to beating him…" he sighed and glanced at the boy. "It was a game that lasted two days, sealed in the first one and continued on the second. Except between the games I got shot and died."

Sai winced slightly. "You really wanted that title then?"

"Yeah, I did," the man sighed. "Can't be helped now, I guess," he murmured, scratching the shell of his ear. "It would be nice to know how that world is doing though. It's been a while, old man Tsusui can't be title holder anymore - heck, I bet he six feet under…" there was hint of sadness in his voice.

"Um… was he a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, I guess so. He helped me along here and there. Real monster in Yose," Hikaru mused with fondness. "Oh man, could he ever turn a game around in the Yose…" the man was quiet for a moment, lost in memory. Then he turned to suddenly look at the boy. "Uh, sorry, I've been blabbering lot about myself."

"No, no, it's alright. It's interesting - and I like stories," Sai quickly said before scratching his cheek sheepishly. "Though I can't really understand much about what you're saying, but… it's still interesting."

The man snorted with disbelief. "So, you're a grade school student, huh?"

"Yeah. I'll start in junior high after this semester though," Sai nodded, smiling a little. "I'm going to Haze junior high."

"No way, that's the school I went to!" the spirit grinned. "It would be cool to see that place again. I wonder if the place still has a Go-club. Didn't have one during my time, which was kinda pity. Had a Shogi club though."

Sai blinked and then smiled. "I'm going to Haze's festival with my friend this weekend," he said. "You could come with us if you want to," he offered before frowning as a thought came to him. "Hm. I wonder if everyone can see you…"

"Well, no one except you has seen me so far, or heard my voice… but I guess there is one way to find out," the man shrugged and then grinned. "It would be pretty cool though, if people could see me. I could scare the crap out of them!"

Blinking with surprise at the look of unholy glee on the man's face, Sai shuddered slightly. _This might not be a good idea,_ he mused.

"What you're saying? It's a brilliant idea," the man argued before getting an idea and standing up. "I wonder if I can walk through stuff?" he asked, grinning widely before promptly walking up to the folding screen separating Sai's futon from rest of the room - and right through it. Laughing somehow happily, the man walked few steps back and then forward again, skipping back and forth through the screen. "Okay, this is cool."

Then he suddenly leaned forward so that only his head came through the screen, making it seem like his head was floating midair. "Whaddya think, Sai?" Hikaru was still grinning from ear to ear. "Isn't this cool or what?"

The boy sitting by the Goban sighed with partial worry and amusement. This was bound to be interesting.

--

Unbetaed since my beta is off having fun, I'll see about replacing the chapter with betaed one when I have one.

The idea behind this is that Shindo Hikaru was a Go-genius roughly twenty years ago, became pro round the age of 13-14 and from since on rocked the Go-world with his ever growing skill and so forth. Only one of his age, who could match his skill, was Toya Akira, his rival. However Hikaru was killed, yadda yadda yadda... and now Sai has found his Goban and story begins anew with all the roles reversed. Like all Hikaru's insei buddies being middle aged top players and title holders and such, and all the top players from the manga being insei and people trying to become pro. Toya Koyo would be Toya Akira's genius son, and Sai's future rival. Kuwabara, Ogata, Kurata, etc etc would either be insei or something similar.

This idea just won't leave me alone, but I don't even know if it's worth writing more and if I'd be just wasting my time with this. So I'd be happy to get some feedback. Not about the grammar since I already know it sucks, thank you very much, but about the story. Debending on the comments I'll decide if I'll continue writing this or take it off the 'net and forget it.

Completely unrelated note: Oh my god, Hikaru no Go got character categories! When did that happen?


	2. II chapter

**II chapter**

"Hm. The festival's bigger than they used to be back in my day," Hikaru murmured while Sai was desperately trying not to stare at the man. The boy was certain that the spirit was on purpose walking right in the middle of the street so that as many unknowing people as possible walked right through him. He apparently thought that it was fun and since no one but Sai could see him there was no harm in it, but at that moment Sai hoped that he wouldn't see the man either. Watching how he just faded through people was unnerving.

_Maybe the school has been expanded or there are is more students here now?_ Sai asked with a shudder, turning his eyes away as Hikaru happily walked through a group of boys a bit older than Sai.

"Yeah, probably. That over there?" Hikaru motioned over the stalls and people to a section of the school that was a bit different from the rest. "Wasn't there when I was a student here." With a shrug of his shoulders he pushed his hands into his pockets and glanced at Sai, as if unaware of the old lady whose handbag went through his stomach. "Can we go and see if there's a Go-club here?"

_No, I need to find my friend first,_ Sai answered with a frown. He had promised to meet Akiko at the gates of the school but the girl hadn't been there. He wasn't too mad about it, though. Akiko had probably seen one of her friends and decided to go with them while waiting for Sai or something similar.

"Oh come on, Sai, we've been looking for five minutes," the spirit pouted. "It won't take long to check out if any of the stalls has Go in them…"

_Five minutes isn't much,_ Sai answered calmly and walked around group of girls. _And viewing all the stalls would take much longer than finding Akiko. You can wait, I'm sure_

Hikaru walked right through the group Sai had avoided. "Hmph," he muttered before something caught his attention. "Oh man, they're making ramen over there," he whined. "I want some…"

Sai glanced at him carefully and stifled a smile at the man's wistful look. _You're a spirit, you can't eat,_ he reminded. _The ramen would go right through you not to mention that you wouldn't be able to lift the chopsticks. And I don't think you need to eat either. Can spirits get hungry?_

"No, but that's completely beside the point. It's _ramen_. You don't need to be hungry to enjoy a good bowl of ramen…" the man pouted. "That's one thing about being a ghost that sucks. Twenty years without Go _and_ ramen. I wonder what I've done that is so terrible that I must suffer through this cruel and unusual punishment," Hikaru sighed heavily, pouting towards the stall where they were making ramen before turning his eyes away. Walking through an elderly man seemed to cheer him up a little. "Can we go and check the Go club now?" he asked.

_No, we cannot, not before I find Akiko. And we don't even know if there is a Go-club in the first place,_ Sai sighed, shaking his head. For someone who had been dead for twenty years and before that alive for twenty five, the man could really be childish at times. _You can be patient._

"Not my strongest suit," the spirit answered sulkily while peering over the crowd. "What does your friend look like anyway?"

_She's my age with chin length black hair and probably with a bit fancy clothing,_ Sai answered. To a special occasion like this one Akiko must've dressed better than usually. _If you see a sewing club, tea ceremony or drama club, Akiko might be around those stalls._

"Sewing, tea ceremony and acting, huh?" The man murmured, lifting one hand to shield his eyes from the sunlight. "Nope. Don't see any. Can we go check out the Go-club now?"

Sai sighed heavily and decided not to dignify the question with an answer. But after few more minutes of Hikaru asking about it almost every time he opened his mouth, Sai decided that it would be easier for him to just go and check out the Go club, if there was any. He didn't see Akiko anyway; it would be a good way to spend time before the girl would turn up.

The Go club was nestled between the stalls for fortune telling and takoyaki. How busy the place was surprised Sai slightly. Not only were there few Haze's students there managing the stall but they had several customers, some of whom were playing and others watching.

"Ooh, let's go take a look! Come on, Sai," Hikaru urged him before walking ahead. With a sigh the boy followed the ghost. As the man leaned over one of the customers to see the board, Sai approached them with little bit more caution. Though it was true that he was somewhat interested in the game, he was also slightly intimidated by it due to the fact that he still didn't know how to play it at all.

In the board Hikaru was looking at, a brown haired boy was setting up black and white stones in certain pattern. "Now, try and solve this in two moves," he then said, leaning back slightly as the elderly customer frowned thoughtfully at the board.

"Lets see. Here…" the old man took a black stone and placed it to the board beside the white stones. "And here. Right?"

"It could work," the boy nodded, taking out a white stone. "But if I go here…"

"Oh I see," the old man frowned, leaning closer with his hand on his chin. "Give me a moment, I'll crack this one."

_What are they doing?_ Ai asked with confusion.

"It's Tsume-Go, life or dead problem," Hikaru answered, glancing at him. "It's a stone capture game in a way. Seeing that you're still a newbie to all this, this one is probably too complicated for you, but…" The man motioned at the board, placing his little and forefinger onto different crossings of the lines. "He needs to place his stones here and here so that the boy can't take the black in the middle."

Sai frowned, leaning in. It really made no sense to him.

"It's alright, kid, you're still a beginner," Hikaru grinned, patting the top of his head casually before looking around. "Oh, they're actually playing over there," he murmured and stepped forward to check out another board. With a confused shake of his head, Sai followed and examined the board with the ghost. This one made even less sense to him. It looked like just a mishmash of black and white stones without any coherence. To Hikaru it seemed to make more sense though, since the man was nodding thoughtfully and chuckling as the customer placed a black stone into a certain position.

"Okay, that ain't a good move," the Haze student playing with the man said with a frown, pushing his sunglasses higher up his nose. He took a white stone and slapped it to the board. "See, see? Now I can take this cluster here. You basically opened it up for me."

"Oh, right," the man the boy was playing muttered with slight embarrassment. "Can I try it again?"

"No way, old man. Once you've placed your stone that's it! You can't just redo a move!"

"Kawai!" the boy who was playing Tsume-Go hissed at the boy with sunglasses. "Would it kill you to try and behave?"

"But it's the truth! You can't change your mind once your fingers have let go of the stone," the boy huffed, but took the stone he had placed away. "I told you I wasn't cut for this Shido-Go stuff, Hoyuusha-san," he then muttered, throwing a glare at the other boy.

Hikaru chuckled. "Nice attitude," he muttered, glancing at Sai. "Though if you're gonna try and learn Go, you should remember that one."

"Huh?" Sai asked with surprise.

"That once your finger has left the stone, you can't move it," the ghost shrugged, smiling slightly as the man resigned the game and took his leave. "Hm. I wanna play…" he murmured, looking longingly at the board. "But I'd wipe the floor with this kid. Don't want my first game in two decades to be like that."

"You, brat. You wanna play Shido-Go?" the boy with sunglasses, Kawai, asked, pointing a finger at Sai.

"Me? No thank you, I'm still just a beginner," Sai quickly raised his hand in apologetic surrender. "I'm just looking around."

"Bah. Beginner. Well, I could teach you the basics. Sit down," the boy motioned and started to arrange the stones to the board. Then he glanced at Sai who still hesitated since he wasn't really interested in playing as much as he was interested satisfying Hikaru so that he could look for Akiko. "Waddya doing? Sit down!"

"Ah, yes!" Snapped out of his hesitation, the boy sat down almost automatically. "Sorry."

"Tch," the boy muttered, throwing annoyed look at him. "Alright. This here is Atari. That's when a stone is between three stones and can be taken with one move. Like this," he placed a white stone to the board and took the black one. "You get it?"

"Uh. Surrounded stones are taken. Yes, I think I get it," Sai said, even though he really didn't.

Hikaru chuckled behind him. "The game's purpose isn't actually to capture stones, though that does tend to happen too. It's to capture territory," he said, pointing at the empty spot between the four stones. "With this move, he scored one point, one moku."

That just confused Sai further.

"Alright," Kawai murmured, arranging the stones to their original position, to Atari again. "You're black. What would you do to escape?"

"You can't move the stones, you need to escape placing a new one," Hikaru added helpfully.

_I did realise that, thank you Hikaru,_ the boy glanced at him with mild annoyance.

The man gave him a sweet smile. "Just trying to be helpful," he said innocently while Sai reached out to take a stone from the bowl of black stones. The man groaned at the sight of him holding them between his thumb and forefinger. "Oh god, you hold them like a beginner!"

_That's because I am a beginner!_ Sai defended himself and carefully placed the stone down beside the other black one. He had to admit that in comparison to the way Kawai held his stones between his fore- and middle finger, his way of holding them was rather awkward. _I bet you didn't hold them perfectly in the beginning either,_ he murmured with annoyance.

"Well… you have a point there," the man agreed casually.

"I think you got that," Kawai murmured and started arranging the board again. He arranged few similar situations with white stones surrounding the black ones or black stones surrounded by white ones. First Sai had to use one stone to either save the black stones or capture the white ones, but soon he had to exchange two hands with Kawai in order to solve the problem.

_This is… actually not so hard,_ Sai murmured as he took cluster of Kawai's stones.

Hikaru snorted. "Of course not. Those are like… basics of the basics," he made a dismissing motion with his hand. "Any halfwit can solve them."

Stifling the urge to glare at the man, Sai leaned back in his seat. But since the man had been a pro, it was probably true what he said. _But basics is where everyone begins,_ he mused more to himself than to the spirit before raising his hands to the elder boy. "Thank you. I learned a lot," he said while starting to stand up.

"You look like you're a grade school student. You gonna enter Haze?" Kawai asked while clearing the board of stones.

"Yes," Sai nodded. "I'll start in the next semester."

"Be sure to enter the Go club then. Can't tell yet, but you might have some aptitude for it," the boy said before making a dismissing motion with his hand. "Now off with ya. I have other customers to play with."

"Heh, he seemed like a fun kid. Had a good attitude for a Go player. Most of them tend to be annoyingly stiff, it's nice to see one with actual character," Hikaru mused and threw a pointed look towards Sai while following him away from the Go club's stall. "He might be good influence for you."

His eyebrow twitching slightly Sai looked away. _Who said I'm going to enter the Go club?_ He thought with little bit of huffiness, feeling more than slightly insulted. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his personality or character. _I'm probably going to be busy with the music club. And studying._

"Of course you're going to enter the Go club. I mean, seriously. _I'm_ here. And I bet I'll be bored to death otherwise," Hikaru grinned widely leaning towards the boy. "And I'll bug you all the time until I'll drive you insane."

_You're already doing that and you're already dead too,_ Sai thought back with a little bit of edge before noticing a familiar sight. "Akiko!" he called out, raising his hand into a greeting. The girl snapped her attention away from the leaflet she had been reading and looked up.

"There you are!" the girl snapped, marching forward. "I have been looking all over for you. Why didn't you wait me at the gates?"

"I did, you weren't there. I thought you had gone ahead," the boy said. Knowing better than to argue about whose fault it was -- he'd lose, Akiko's personality just was very hard to fight against -- he turned his attention to the paper in the girl's hand. "What is that?" he asked.

"It's from the drama club, they were handing them out," she answered, handing the paper to him. "I took it for you; I thought you might be interested about it."

"Hm?" Sai asked while Hikaru leaned to look over his shoulder. The boy's eyes widened a little when he saw the image in the front of the leaflet. It was apparently taken from a play - there were two boys and one girl in the picture, both dressed into Kariginu. "They have plays about the Heian period?" he asked, turning the leaflet around to read what it said.

"Apparently the teacher looking after the club is somewhat of history enthusiast. Most of the plays are historical - and this one is a tradition," Akiko explained. "It's one of the three biggest plays they perform in a year. It's a Noh-styled play they do in conjunction with the music club. It's about some drama within the Heian palace…"

"You're not thinking about joining a drama club of all things, are you?" Hikaru asked, raising his eyebrows.

_Yes. Yes I am,_ Sai answered steadily, stifling the urge to stick his tongue out to the man. He would do what ever he wanted to with his free time, no Go obsessed ghost would keep him from it. Then he turned his attention to Akiko again. "Where was the drama club's stall?" he asked. "Oh, and did you find the music club?"

"The drama club is right over there… they're going to give a short performance later on, I think." Akiko motioned before frowning. "But I haven't yet found the music club. I heard that they're going to perform too."

"Well, we'll find the music club together," Sai nodded with confidence. "Let's go. I want to see the drama club." As Akiko led him towards the drama club's stall, Hikaru followed them with a slight huff and frown. At first Sai was worried that the man was going to sulk through the rest of the festival but then saw the annoyance on the man's face dissipating as he walked through a group of people, trying to hit all of them. The boy hid a smile and looked onwards. The man was a bit overbearing and annoying, but thankfully it seemed that Hikaru didn't hold a grudge for long.

_Seems like he's amused pretty easily too,_ he mused before frowning. _Though, on other hand, how many people can walk through things…?_

-

"I wanna play Go," Hikaru moaned not for the first time when Sai was later that day walking home. He and Akiko had stayed at the festival until the end, talking with the members of the drama and music club until they had came into certainty that they'd join them. Akiko would also join the sewing and the tea ceremony club on odd occasions, but for her the drama club took the priority while with Sai it was split between drama and music.

"Just because you don't want to play Go all that seriously doesn't have to mean that I will have to suffer from your abstinence," the ghost continued. "You could, maybe, take me to a Go salon or something and I'd play through you," he nudged the boy's side. "I'd whine a lot less, you know."

_Nice to hear that you admit being whiny,_ the boy thought with a sigh. It had been hard to concentrate to the festival because the ghost hadn't stopped talking about the wonders of Go, like he had been trying to recruit Sai. _What is a Go salon then?_

"It's a place where people go to play Go, kinda like café or diner except for Go rather than food. Amateurs mostly, but in some they either hire or they're owned by pro players who sometimes teach," Hikaru answered, stretching his hands before linking his finger behind his neck. He glanced at the boy. "It might cost some but since you're a kid it can't cost much."

Sai sighed, pushing a stray lock of dark hair from his face and looking at the man. _And how, exactly, do you plan to play through me?_ he asked worriedly. The grin that appeared to the man's face made him realise that he had just practically agreed to take him.

"I'd tell you where the place the stones, obviously," Hikaru said with a wide smile, looking around eagerly. "Do you know if there is any Go salon's near by?"

_Before today I didn't even know such things existed,_ the boy shook his head, giving up and looking around as well. Maybe if he'd let the man do this Hikaru would be easier to handle, he concluded in something similar to defeat. _Oh, there's a person there. I'll ask her,_ Sai thought, noticing an elderly woman walking down the street.

He got lucky, the woman did know a Go salon and it wasn't even far away. After thanking her profusely, Sai headed towards the direction, looking around and trying to find the salon. It was Hikaru who found it. "There, there," the man and nudged the boy's side. "Come on."

_ Yes, yes, fine, fine,_ Sai thought and followed the man with a sigh. The salon was a surprisingly nice and clean place, looking more than slightly like private club. Near the entrance there was a counter with what looked like everything necessary for a tea house behind it along with a young man who was apparently tending to the counter.

"Hello there," the man behind the counter greeted Sai with a warm smile. "Is it your first time here?"

"Ah, yes," Sai answered, drawing his eyes back from the customers of the salon. They were all elder men.

"Write your name down here and your level," the manager pointed at a paper sitting on the table. "And we'll find an opponent for you."

_My level?_ Sai asked with confusion while taking the pen and writing his name down. _What's that?_

"There are Go players of different level everywhere, even amongst the amateurs," Hikaru shrugged. "Knowing the level makes it easier for a player to find a player of their level - no one wants to always play against people weaker than them. Just leave that open for a while, say that you're not sure."

Sai did as asked. "I haven't played in salon before… or anywhere really," he said out loud, glancing around. "What am I… oh, there's someone here of my age," he noticed. There was a boy with short dark hair sitting on a table near by who looked up at the sound of his voice. Sai turned to look at the man behind the counter. "Can I play him?"

"I don't wanna play a kid…" Hikaru whined.

_Well, I do,_ Sai thought back with little bit of discomfort, glancing at the elder customers with a frown. Facing against them would be a bit… awkward.

"Um, him?" the manager asked a bit awkwardly, looking between Sai and the other boy. "Well, he is… ah…"

"Are you looking for an opponent?" the boy with short hair asked and sat up. "I don't mind."

"But Koyo-kun… this kid has never..."

Sai smiled to the other boy. "Thank you," he nodded deeply. "My name is Fujiwara Sai. I'm sure it will be a pleasure playing with you."

The other boy blinked with surprise before smiling somehow stoically. "Toya Koyo," he said before motioning him to follow. "Let's go to the back, we can play in private there."

"Hey, wait, you haven't paid yet," the manager called before Sai could follow the other boy. "Children's fee is five hundred yen."

"Oh, right, my apologies," Sai said, quickly going through his pockets in search for his wallet. After finding the asked sum, he placed it to the counter with a smile. Then he turned to look at the other boy who nodded and lead him to the back.

"So, how strong are you?" the other boy, Toya, asked while they sat down to an empty table in the back. He took the lid of the stone bowl off to reveal white stones inside.

"I'm, uh, not really sure," Sai smiled awkwardly while taking the black stones. "This is the first time I've played in a salon you see."

"Not sure hm? Why don't you place own four or five stones?" he asked.

_What does that mean, Hikaru?_ Sai asked. When the spirit didn't give an answer, Sai glanced back to him to see that the man was almost glaring at the boy. _Hikaru? What is it? Hikaru?_ The man gave no answer. _Hikaru?!_

"Gah, what?" the spirit asked, snapping out of his haze. "Aw, geez. It's a handicap. Forget it, say that we don't need one," the man said, folding his hands. "Toya Koyo huh… Ask him if he's related to Toya Akira." There was a edge of steel in the man's eyes as he said this.

Sai blinked with confusion. "Ah, I don't need handicap," he then quickly said as the other boy looked at him with little bit of confusion on otherwise rather well controlled face. "Um… Are you by any chance related to Toya Akira?" he then asked a bit awkwardly, wondering who Toya Akira was.

The other boy blinked with surprise. "Ah, yes, he's my father," he then answered a bit uneasily, glancing at the board between them. "Are you sure that you don't want handicaps?"

"Yes, I'm certain. We're about the same age, right?" Sai asked, raising his eyebrows.

"That has nothing to do with ability," Hikaru murmured with narrowed eyes. "Toya Akira's son, eh? That jerk actually managed to get married and breed?" he snorted before turning his face away and stifling what sounded disturbingly like a giggle. "Oh man, now I can't get the thought of him carrying a baby around out of my head!"

"Yes, well… I suppose you're right," Toya answered while Sai tried not to turn to look at the giggling spirit. "How about you go first then?"

"Alright," Sai nodded and took a stone awkwardly. _Hikaru,_ he thought pointedly. _I brought you here to play, remember? Are you going to play or not?_

"Yes, yes, yes, sorry," the man answered with grin in his voice, snickering still. "First hand here, below the star," he said, reaching over Sai's shoulder and placing his fingertip briefly into crossing of the lines. "Also known as lower left komoku."

Sai placed the stone awkwardly there and while Toya gave him a slightly exasperated look, the game began.

--

Again hasn't been betaed but I tried to get the mistakes out.

Heh, I'm starting to like these two. Making Hikaru as annoying to Sai as Sai was to Hikaru in original is surprisingly fun. Hopefully I didn't end up ruining Sai's personality, though. Or Hikaru's. And no, this isn't a continuing of the original. This Hikaru never knew Fujiwara no Sai or had a spirit of any sort. And though I'm not following the original plot line, i'm taking some elements of it, like you've probably already figured.

The Haze Go club is obviously bigger and more popular than the one in the anime/manga. And the members are kiddified people from the Heart of Stone salon. I don't know the owner's/Go club's president's name, so I just call him Hoyuusha, which I think means owner. If anyone knows the actual name, please do tell so that I can go with that


End file.
